Goldman hit by debt auction error at New York Fed -FT

September 19, 2013|Reuters

Sept 19 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs was hit by aclerical error at the New York Federal Reserve that left thebank without any of the three-month Treasury bills it ordered ata debt auction, the Financial Times reported, citing peoplefamiliar with the matter.

The newspaper said Goldman had suffered a loss due to themix-up but did not specify the amount of the loss. Goldmandeclined to comment to the newspaper.

An official at the New York Fed, which conducts auctions forthe Treasury, had to record orders manually following a computermalfunction on Sept. 9. In addition to receiving none of thethree-month bills it wanted, Goldman also got more six-monthTreasury bills than it had ordered, the FT said.

As a result of the error, Goldman went over the 35 per centTreasury limit that a bidder can acquire in an auction due toover allotment of the six month bills, the paper said.

The Treasury waived that rule while letting the results ofthe auction stand, and there will likely be no additionalremedies for the bank, a person told the paper.

The Treasury's Public Debt bureau acknowledged in astatement to the Financial Times that there was a technicalissue, but did not specify which bidder was affected. ()

Goldman and Treasury's Public Debt bureau could notimmediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regularU.S. business hours.